BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Inventing in America

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Inventing in America:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIAHIN_150701_02.JPG: An Inventor's Retreat: This red door led into Ralph Baer's workshop. He built the workshop in the basement of his home in Manchester, New Hampshire. For fun, he made the workshop appear as a house within a house. The workshop was a refuge where he could retreat to his ideas and prototypes. In a career stretching from the 1930s to the 2010s, Baer witnessed the evolution of electronics -- from the first vacuum tubes to the Internet. When he died at age 92, he was still inventing.
2. SIAHIN_150701_08.JPG: From Germany to America: Ralph Baer was born in Germany in 1922. In 1938 he and his family fled to New York City to escape persecution of Jews by the Nazis. Baer became a naturalized American and worked in US Army intelligence during World War II, focusing on enemy small arms. After the war, he studied television engineering. In 1956, he moved to New Hampshire and joined Sanders Associates, a defense contractor. There he spent the rest of his career, raised his family, and became a prolific inventor.
3. SIAHIN_150701_26.JPG: Inventors' Workshops: Where are inventions born? They often come from workshops where inventors experiment with their ideas, refining, testing, and improving them so they can be patented. Then they must be further developed if they are to become practical products. The workshops may be in garages, attics, or spare rooms. Inside are reference works, tools, parts, prototypes, and sources of inspiration. These spaces are customized to reflect the inventors' own working style and personality -- places where they can be both comfortable and creative.
4. SIAHIN_150701_29.JPG: Ralph Baer in his workshop in 2003 Ralph H. Baer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ralph Henry Baer (born Rudolf Heinrich Baer; March 8, 1922 – December 6, 2014) was a German-born American video game developer, inventor, and engineer, and was known as "The Father of Video Games" due to his many contributions to games and the video game industry in the latter half of the 20th century. Born in Germany, he and his family fled to the United States before the outbreak of World War II, where he changed his name and later served the American war effort. Afterwards, he pursued work in electronics, and in the 1960s, came up with the idea of playing games on television screens. He would go on to develop and patent several hardware prototypes, including what would become the first home video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, and other consoles and consumer game units. In 2004, he was awarded the National Medal of Technology for "his groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games, which spawned related uses, applications, and mega-industries in both the entertainment and education realms". Life: Baer was born in 1922 to Lotte (Kirschbaum) and Leo Baer, a Jewish family living in Germany, and was originally named Rudolf Heinrich Baer. At age 11, he was expelled from school because of his ancestry and had to go to an all-Jewish school. His father worked in a shoe factory in Pirmasens at the time. Baer's family, fearing increasing persecution, moved from Germany to New York City in 1938 two months prior to Kristallnacht while Baer was a teenager. Baer would later become a naturalized United States citizen. In the United States, he was self-taught and worked in a factory for a weekly wage of twelve dollars; upon seeing an advertisement at a bus station for education in the budding electronics field, he quit his job to study in the field. He graduated from the National Radio Institute as a radio service technician in 1940. In 1943 he was drafted to fight in World War II and assigned to military intelligence at the United States Army headquarters in London. With his secondary education funded by the G.I. Bill, Baer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Television Engineering (unique at the time) from the American Television Institute of Technology in Chicago in 1949. In 1949, Baer went to work as chief engineer for a small electro-medical equipment firm, Wappler, Inc., where he designed and built surgical cutting machines, epilators, and low frequency pulse generating muscle-toning equipment. In 1951, Baer went to work as a senior engineer for Loral Electronics in Bronx, New York, where he designed power line carrier signaling equipment for IBM. From 1952 to 1956, he worked at Transitron, Inc., in New York City as a chief engineer and later as vice president. He started his own company before joining defense contractor Sanders Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire (now part of BAE Systems Inc.) in 1956, where he stayed until retiring in 1987. Baer's primary responsibility at Sanders was overseeing about 500 engineers in the development of electronic systems for military applications. However, out of this work came the concept of a home video game console; he would go on to create the basis for the first commercial units, among several other patented advances in video games and electronic toys. As he approached retirement, Baer partnered with Bob Pelovitz of Acsiom, LLC, and they invented and marketed toy and game ideas from 1983 until Baer's death. Baer was a Life Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His son, Mark, helped lead the nomination process to elevate him to become an IEEE Life Fellow, the highest level of membership within the organization. Family and death: Baer married Dena Whinston in 1952; she died in 2006. They had three children during their marriage, and at the time of Baer's death, he had four grandchildren. Baer died at his home in Manchester, New Hampshire on December 6, 2014, according to family and friends close to him. Inventions: Baer is considered to have been the inventor of video games, specifically of the concept of the home video game console. In 1966, while an employee at Sanders, Baer started to explore the possibility of playing games on television screens. He first got the idea while working at Loral in 1951, another electronics company, however, they wanted nothing to do with it at the time. In a 2007 interview, Baer said that he recognized that the price reduction of owning a television set at the time had opened a large potential market for other applications, considering that various military groups had identified ways of using television for their purposes. Upon coming up with the idea of creating a game using the television screen, he wrote a four-page proposal with which he was able to convince one of his supervisors to allow him to proceed. He was given US$2,500 and the time of two other engineers, Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch. They developed the "Brown Box" console video game system, so named because of the brown tape in which they wrapped the units to simulate wood veneer. Baer recounted that in an early meeting with a patent examiner and his attorney to patent one of the prototypes, he had set up the prototype on a television in the examiner's office and "within 15 minutes, every examiner on the floor of that building was in that office wanting to play the game". Baer began seeking a buyer for the system, turning to various television manufacturers who did not see interest in the unit. In 1971, it was licensed to Magnavox, and after being renamed Magnavox Odyssey, the console was released to the public in 1972. For a time it was Sanders' most profitable line, selling approximately 300,000 units, though many in the company looked down on game development. Baer is credited for creating the first light gun and game for home television use, sold grouped with a game expansion pack for the Odyssey, and collectively known as the Shooting Gallery. The light gun itself was the first peripheral for a video game console. The success of the Odyssey led to competition from other companies, in particular Atari, Inc., led by Nolan Bushnell at the time. Bushnell saw Baer's successful devices and was able to create the first arcade machine in 1972 based on Baer's Table Tennis idea, resulting in Pong. The success was very limited though, due to the heavy price and confusing advertising. Sanders and Magnavox successfully sued Atari for patent infringement over Baer's original ideas, but Bushnell would continue to push Atari forward to become a leader in both home and arcade video games. This led to a lengthy conflict between Baer and Bushnell over who was the true "father of video games"; Baer was willing to concede this to Bushnell, though noted that Bushnell "has been telling the same nonsensical stories for 40 years". Baer would help both Magnavox and later Coleco to develop competitive units to Atari's products, including the Odyssey 100 and the Odyssey2. Ultimately, the industry came to name Baer as the father of the home video game console, while crediting Bushnell with creating the concept of the arcade machine; Upon Baer's death, Bushnell stated that Baer's "contributions to the rise of videogames should not be forgotten". Baer is also credited with co-developing three popular electronic games. Baer, along with Howard J. Morrison, developed Simon (1978) and its sequel Super Simon (1979) for Milton Bradley, electronic pattern-matching games that were immensely popular through the late 1990s. The US patent for Simon, Pat No. 4,207,087 was obtained in 1980 by patent counsel for Marvin Glass and Associates, Robert J. Schneider, a managing partner with the firm of Mason, Kolehmainen, Rathburn and Wyss. Schneider is currently Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Department of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Baer also developed a similar pattern-matching game "Maniac" for the Ideal Toy Company (1979) on his own, though the game was not as popular as Simon; Baer considered that Maniac was "really hard to play" and thus not as popular as his earlier game. In 2006, Baer donated hardware prototypes and documents to the Smithsonian Institution. He continued to tinker in electronics after the death of his wife through at least 2013. By the time of his death, Baer had over 150 patents in his name; in addition to those related to video games, he had patents for electronic greeting cards and for tracking systems for submarines. Awards: In addition to being considered "The Father of Video Games", Baer was recognized as a pioneer in the video game field. His accolades include the G-Phoria Legend Award (2005), the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award (2008), the Game Developers Conference Developers Choice "Pioneer" award (2008), and the IEEE Edison Medal (2014). Baer was posthumously given the Pioneer Award by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Game Developers Conference. On February 13, 2006, Baer was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President George W. Bush in honor of his "groundbreaking and pioneering creation, development and commercialization of interactive video games". On April 1, 2010, Baer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the United States Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
5. SIAHIN_150701_32.JPG: Ralph Baer's Workshop: This workshop is from the home of Ralph H. Baer (1922-2014), inventor of the first video game. Baer designed his own home, and within it, this personal sanctuary. Here he worked on dozens of different inventions. Besides the video game, they include the games Odyssey, Simon, Maniac, and Computer Perfection, as well as electronic toys, talking books, and talking tools. In recognition of his work, Baer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and received the National Medal of Technology, among many other honors.
6. SIAHIN_150701_35.JPG: The Original Idea: Good inventors document their ideas. Ralph Baer first articulated his "TV game" invention in September 1966, in a four-page paper now preserved in this Museum. Even in the beginning, he envisioned a wide variety of games, including "action games... board skill games... artistic games.... instructional games... board chance games... card games... game monitoring [using video to score other games] ... and sports games."
7. SIAHIN_150701_45.JPG: The Brown Box: This "Brown Box" was the prototype for the first multiplayer, multi-program video game system. It was developed between 1967 and 1969 by Ralph Baer and his colleagues Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch at Sanders Associates INc. For the invention, Baer was issued US Patent 3728480 for "Television Gaming and Training Apparatus." Sanders made millions of dollars licensing the patent rights.
8. SIAHIN_150717_002.JPG: Coca-Cola Contour Bottle, 1977 The Coca-Cola bottle was introduced to the public in 1916. The original 1915 design was modified to narrow the bottle because it was unstable on conveyor belts. Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup Bottle, 1980 First used in 1966, the shape of the Mrs. Butterworth's bottle is a registered trademark for table syrup.
9. SIAHIN_150717_013.JPG: Igloo Cooler, 1983 First used in 1971, the shape of this cooler is a registered trademark for portable ice or food containers.
10. SIAHIN_150717_020.JPG: Levi's Red Tab, 1938 The red tab stitched into the seam of Levi's jeans was first used in 1936 and is a registered trademark for pants of the patch-pocket type.
11. SIAHIN_150717_025.JPG: Oscar Statuette, 1975 The shape of the Academy Award "Oscar" was first used in 1929 and is registered as a trademark for, among other things, an annual, live television program dealing with motion pictures.
12. SIAHIN_150717_032.JPG: Mickey Mouse Ears Hat, 1989 The Mouseketeer beanie hat with round mouse ears was worn on The Mickey Mouse Club. First used in 1955, the addition of round mouse ears to a beanie is registered as a trademark for hats.
13. SIAHIN_150717_038.JPG: Etch A Sketch Drawing Toy, 1998 The registered trademark consists of both the red border and the overall shape of the toy. Introduced in 1960, over 150 million units have been sold.
14. SIAHIN_150717_048.JPG: Trademarks -- National Geographic Magazine Yellow Border, 1977: In 1926, the National Geographic Society began using a yellow border for a magazine about geographical knowledge and history. The yellow-border design is a registered trademark for such magazines.
15. SIAHIN_150717_053.JPG: John Deere Green & Yellow Tractor, 2010: First used for tractors in 1918, the combination of the colors green applied to an exterior surface of the vehicle and yellow applied to the wheels is a registered trademark of Deere & Company.
16. SIAHIN_150717_058.JPG: American Red Cross, 2004: The Red Cross design is protected by a federal statute and is also a registered trademark for charitable services.
17. SIAHIN_150717_065.JPG: Pizza Hut Building Design, 2013: The building design of a Pizza Hut restaurant features a six-sided roof and trapezoidal windows. First used in 1964, it is a registered trademark for restaurant services.
18. SIAHIN_150717_073.JPG: Branun's Animals Crackers Box, 1973: The circus wagon design and related words comprise this registered trademark for crackers, which was first used in 1920.
19. SIAHIN_150717_077.JPG: Goya Food Products, 1964: First registered in 1941 as apart of a trademark also featuring a portrait of the Spanish painter of the same name, the word "Goya" is now the subject of several trademark registrations for a variety of food products.
20. SIAHIN_150717_083.JPG: UPS Brown Truck, 1998: The color brown as applied to delivery vehicles is a trademark for motor vehicle transportation and delivery of personal property. First used in 1917, it is registered to United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
21. SIAHIN_150717_095.JPG: The United States has always depended on invention. The country itself was a new idea -- a republic in which a sovereign people governed themselves. Its Constitution specifically protects inventors' rights and benefits. Inventions have propelled America's economy, undergirded its national defense, and shaped its culture. For ever two centuries, national leaders have strongly believed that the federal government should both stimulate and regulate the innovative process, including management of both patents and trademarks. Trademarks: A trademark is any word, name, symbol, or design, or any combination of them, used in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods or services of one manufacturer or seller from those of another or also to indicate the source of the goods or services. Thus, trademarks can be more than words or designs. They can be shapes, colors, sounds, moving or motion marks, and even scents. Federal trademark registration is managed by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Through use of their trademarks, companies establish brand identifies, which can serve to enhance product sales and to shape relationships with their customers. National Inventors Hall of Fame Members: Established in 1973, the National Inventors Hall of Fame commemorates landmark patented inventions and people who made them. Shown here is a small selection of inventions made by some of the over five hundred men and women who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria, Virginia, and its companion website, invent.org, recognize all of them. Through their talent, commitment, and dedication, these individuals have transformed how we work, play, and live. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the United States Patent and Trademark Office whose support made possible Inventing in America.
22. SIAHIN_150717_098.JPG: Apple I Computer, 1976: In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created Apple Computer, Inc., which became a leader in personal computing. This was the company's first product.
23. SIAHIN_150717_105.JPG: Sticky Note, 1980s: Arthur Fry perfected a pressure sensitive adhesive sheet material while at 3M. After years of working on applications, 3M introduced the now ubiquitous Post-It Note.
24. SIAHIN_150909_001.JPG: Macaroni Box, 1884-1885 Dorr E. Felt, Prototype This model was the prototype for the Comptometer, the first commercially successful adding machine with a mechanism driven by pushing the keys. Comptometers were used primarily in businesses and government offices. Dorr E. Felt made the model from a wooden box that had been used to ship macaroni.
25. SIAHIN_150909_010.JPG: Typewriter, 1868 C. Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden & Samuel W. Soule, Patent No. 79265 This patent model was created by three Milwaukee inventors who made progress toward a viable typewriting machine. Six years later, Remington & Sons produced the first commercially successful machine, bearing the names Sholes and Glidden.
26. SIAHIN_150909_016.JPG: Camera Shutter, 1879 Eadweard Muybridge, Patent No. 212865 This "Method and Apparatus for Photographing Objects in Motion" was adapted to photographic equipment. As demonstrated with this patent model, it could produce images of subjects in rapid motion. It was used by Eadweard Muybridge in his celebrated animal locomotion photography.
27. SIAHIN_150909_022.JPG: Printing Press, 1830 Isaac Adams, Patent No. X6178 The style of bed and platen printing press in this patent model inspired Isaac Adams's design of later Adams Power Press, which was praised by early 19th-century printers for its production of quality bookwork into the late 19th century.
28. SIAHIN_150909_032.JPG: Telegraph, 1837 Samuel F. B. Morse, Prototype Samuel F.B. Morse converted an artist's canvas stretcher into a telegraph receiver that recorded a message as a wavy line on a strip of paper. His telegraph transmitter sent electric pulses representing letters and numbers that activated an electromagnet on the receiver.
29. SIAHIN_150909_036.JPG: Experimental Triode, 1906 & Radio, 1914 Lee De Forest, Patent No. 824637 & Edwin Armstrong, Patent No. 1113149 Lee De Forest invented an electron tube called an "Audion" that could amplify radio signals, a crucial step toward practical electronic devices. Using an Audion tube, Edwin Armstrong invented a circuit that allowed people to hear radio signals without headphones.
30. SIAHIN_150909_043.JPG: Defibrillator, 1947 Claude S. Beck, Prototype Claude S. Beck, the first American professor of cardiac surgery, successfully revived a patient by directly shocking the heart with a defibrillator in 1947. Later innovations allowed defibrillator paddles to be used against the chest.
31. SIAHIN_150909_049.JPG: Artificial Heart, 1977 Robert Jarvik, MD, Prototype This electrohydraulic artificial heart is a prototype for what became the Jarvik-7 Total Artificial Heart, which was first implanted into a human in December 1982 at the University of Utah Medical Center. The two sides of the device are connected with Velcro.
32. SIAHIN_150909_056.JPG: Denture, 1843 Jonathan Dodge, Patent No. 2985 This denture patent model by Jonathan Dodge in 1843 was one of the earliest models to be patented. The model was small perforations to increase the grip of the dentures to the gum.
33. SIAHIN_150909_059.JPG: Incandescent Lamp, 1881 Thomas Edison, Patent No. 239373 Thomas Edison submitted this model to patent a variation on his newly invented lightbulb. Although he never put this design into production, this lamp could be disassembled to replace a burned-out filament.
34. SIAHIN_150909_065.JPG: Bagatelle, 1871 Montague Redgrave, Patent No. 115357 Montague Redgrave's table game known as an "Improved Parlor Bagatelle" was based on earlier billiards games. This patent model used a spring release to push a ball against the pull of a sloped incline. Both elements were later included in modern pinball arcade games.
35. SIAHIN_150909_071.JPG: Vegetable Assorter, 1879 John Heinz, Patent No. 212000 With the improvements in commercial packaging, food producers needed other machines needed other machines that could keep up with production timelines. This invention submitted by John Heinz automated the sorting of vegetables by size, which would otherwise be done by hand.
36. SIAHIN_150909_078.JPG: Sewing Machine, 1873 Helen Blanchard, Patent No. 141987 This patent model for an improvement in sewing machines introduced the buttonhole stitch. Helen Blanchard received some twenty-eight patents, many having to do with sewing. She is best remembered for inventing the zigzag overstitch sewing machine.
37. SIAHIN_150909_083.JPG: Pin Machine, 1841 John I. Howe, Patent No. 2013 After physician John I. Howe observed pins being made by band, he designed and patented a machine that automated the process. Just one of his machines could produce twenty-four thousands pins in an eleven-hour workday.
38. SIAHIN_150909_088.JPG: Liquid Transmitter, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell, Patent No. 174465 In March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the words "Mr. Watson -- Come here -- I want to see you," using a liquid transmitter. Three months later he took this experimental device to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
39. SIAHIN_150909_094.JPG: Carterfone, 1963 Thomas Carter, Patent No. 3100818 Thomas Carter connected telephone and radio conversations without a wired electrical connection, as this object shows. His successful suit against the Bell System to allow people to use "Carterfones" helped end the telephone company's monopoly in the United States.
40. SIAHIN_150909_107.JPG: Innovation can be sparked b many things: A promising idea. A pressing need. An unexpected discovery. At SC Johnson, we celebrate innovation in all its forms. This Gateway to Innovation is named for the advertising innovator John J. (Jack) Louis. He was with the advertising firm Needham, Louis and Brorby and was married to Henrietta Johnson, granddaughter of our founder. Jack brought SC Johnson the Fibber McGee & Molly show, whose novel advertising helped launch the iconic Glo-Coat brand and made the company a national household name during the Great Depression. We are proud to sponsor this gateway in honor of Jack and the entire Louis family. Dr. H. Fisk Johnson CEO, SC Johnson -- A Family Company
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Description of Subject Matter: Inventing in America
July 1, 2015 – Indefinitely
Inventing in America, a collaboration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, focuses on inventions and innovators of the past and present, including Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. The displays feature early patent models, trademarks, and inventions of National Inventors Hall of Fame members.
Anchoring the floor is a new landmark object, Ralph Baer’s Inventor’s Workshop. Visitors are able to view the home workshop of Ralph Baer, known as the inventor of the home video game. A monitor adjacent to the workshop shows an excerpt from an original color video tape of the “Brown Box,” the first video gaming system.
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2015 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha! Trips this year: a quick trip to Florida. two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles). Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post. Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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